Grenadier Fantasy Lords 2nd Series 047 Winged Warriors (3 of 3)

An earlier posting showed one of the Winged Folk from the Fantasy Lords 1st Series; I knew that there were different versions of the same figures for the 2nd series, and lo and behold they turned up on a certain auction site:

The main difference between the sets are the weapons carried:

1st Series: sword+net, bow, bolas

2nd series: sword (no net), crossbow, net

I'm quite pleased with the way these figures painted up; as they part of the same set I used a consistent colour scheme, mostly Games Workshop paints and washes. I'm still on the lookout for the swordsman+net and the bolas thrower from the 1st Series set, so I'll keep looking!

Grenadier Dragon Lords Fantasy Boxed Set 2009 Wizard's Chamber - Cauldron Spirit

And so on to the accompanying piece, the Cauldron Spirit. To my mind, this is a great sculpture - extremely atmospheric and sinister. It's hard to believe that it is part of the same set as the wizard:

The figure was very simple to paint - a base coat of light green, followed by GW washes and then highlighting. The cauldron is just matt black highlighted with Tin Bitz; the cobble stones at the base of it are just Milliput, painted dark gray and then highlighted. I was really pleased with the way this turned out! And finally - a shot of both figures together:

It's nice to see some of the older figures from the 80's paint up so well (although I still have my doubts about the proportions on the Wizard). I'm still scouring auction sites for the other parts of this set, and if I acquire them I'll revisit these figures.

Grenadier Dragon Lords Fantasy Boxed Set 2009 Wizard's Chamber - Wizard

And still staying with Grenadier... next out of the box were a couple of components from a boxed set. Unfortunately I don't have all of the pieces - the fate of so many box sets from the 80's - but I do have the the two main pieces, the Wizard and the Cauldron Spirit. First up was the Wizard figure:

I was quite pleased with the way the figure painted up, although in hindsight I wished I'd used a red rather than burgundy for the robe. The floor tiles on the base are just Milliput, painted up grey. The figure itself is typical of Grenadier of the early 80's; quite coarse, and with real sculpting issues - just look at the hands, especially the one cradling the crystal ball! The proportions look wrong as well - that raised arm looks far too long for the rest of the figure, especially the legs. Perhaps what we have is the original Wizard Librarian from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, just before he mutates into an orangutan! Next up will be the Cauldron Spirit, and I'll also take a picture of the two figures together.

Grenadier Julie Guthrie's Personalities 880 Wraith

Staying with Grenadier, the next figure out of the box was this wraith:

Initially I wasn't enthused; it seemed quite a dull figure, and unpainted the eyes looked like two clumsy pins stuck inside the hood. It was only when I started painting that it came to life (a bit ironic for one of the undead). This was an easy paint job; dark gray base coat, then a Devlan mud wash, then several highlighting coats before painting the eye stalks a vivid red.

The mist at the base of the figure is simply cotton wool, held in place with DullCote varnish, and I think it works pretty well! One thing struck me about this figure whilst painting it; it is small, especially when placed next to other figures from the same range. I puzzled over this for a while, before reaching the conclusion that it was deliberate, and that the figure is supposed to represent a female spirit - possibly an elf? That would explain the small stature and slenderness, and also some of the curves amongst the gray folds! It's a strange, slightly eerie figure, and I've very pleased with the way it turned out.

Grenadier Fantasy Lords 1st Series 179 Armoured Balrog

And back to Grenadier. They were by far the most prolific of manufacturers in the 1980's, which is why their figures are comparatively easy to pick up. In my opinion this figure is one of their best from the mid-1980's:

I think it's a fantastic figure - a Tolkein-esque Balrog, kitted up with breast plate, leg guards, shield and a flaming sword - definitely a "boss" figure for any dungeon! In particular, the sculpting on the face is terrific - it is quite monstrous IMHO. You could quibble about the scale of the wings in proportion to the rest of the figure, but let's not forget it's fantasy, eh? And besides, if a bee violates the laws of aerodynamics, who is to say that a Balrog can't ;)

The figure was basically done in Citadel Blood Red, then shaded with Carroberg Crimson wash, then lots of highlighting. I wanted the base to look like it was walking on red hot coals, so it's basically some grit effect material from a railway modelling job, drybrushed with red and then orange.

Very pleased with the figure and the way it turned out!

Garrison Sword And Sorcery SS84 Horned Lizard

And now for something completely different. Garrison were amongst the earliest of wargaming miniature manufacturers, and also produced fantasy miniatures for the RPG market in the late 1970's/80's. Most of the Garrison figures from that era are still available to buy today; this figure is an original for the 1980's:

Initially I thought the sculpting was quite coarse, with not much detail, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it painted up for such a simple figure. I'm not too sure how much use it would be in a RPG setting though; to honest it looks as though the worst thing this figure could do is give an unwary adventurer a nasty lick. The colours are based on pictures of iguanas found on Google, and the paint job is simple acrylics and inks, with a standard flock base.

Grenadier Dragon Lords Folklore Creatures Of The Night 2014i Ghost

Grenadier miniatures are readily available in the UK via certain auction sites, hence their high representation in the blog so far. This figure was next out of the plastic storage box:

The sculpting of Grenadier figures really improved throughout the 1980's, and I think this is a fantastic figure - compare it with the much more naive Grenadier Djinni posted earlier in the blog.

The figure itself was very simple to paint - undercoat of white, then Games Workshop Rotting Flesh, inks, then highlighting, The base is just some railway gravel from a model railway kit! It's a great figure, and I'm fairly happy with the way its turned out.